Anton Petrov
First Ever Organism That Actually Eats Viruses For Nutrition - Halteria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq7DaAKIgWI

#AntonPetrov #algae #carbonCycle #chlorovirus #foodChain #halteria #placton #predator #protist #virovore

First organism that eats viruses (that we've discovered). Really cool video. Makes me wish I had another #microscope. I spent countless hours as a kid examining water from puddles and stock tanks. Got sold in a garage sale when I was in college 😥 #microscopy, #virovore, #protists, #halteria, #AntonPetrov, #science, #biology
https://youtu.be/lq7DaAKIgWI

#covid on the menu coming soon?

#EatViruses #virovore #virovores #virovory

#Halteria #microbe #plankton

https://www.sciencealert.com/an-organism-that-can-dine-exclusively-on-viruses-has-been-found-in-a-world-first

"In a turnabout worthy of Pac-Man, DeLong and his colleagues have found that a species of #Halteria — microscopic ciliates that populate freshwater worldwide — can eat huge numbers of infectious #chloroviruses that share their aquatic habitat. For the first time, the team’s lab experiments have also shown that a virus-only diet, which the team calls “virovory,” is enough to fuel the physiological growth and even population growth of an organism." https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/eating-viruses-can-power-growth-reproduction-of-microorganism/

RT @MicrobesInfect@twitter.com

#virovore discovered:

In water samples with no other food source for the ciliates, #Halteria populations grew by ~15 times within 2 days, while chlorovirus levels dropped 100-fold. In control samples without the virus, Halteria didn’t grow at all.

https://newatlas.com/science/first-virovore-eats-viruses/

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/MicrobesInfect/status/1608881145051230208